Mobile photography? Hasn’t all photography always been mobile? I have never had a camera that was not portable. OK, only in recent years did I get a camera that also had other functions, but photography has always been mobile. If you check the statistics for uploaded photography, you will see that nowadays the most commonly used camera is not a stand-alone camera, but a multi-functional device that has an inbuilt camera. More people than ever before are enjoying photography, and predominantly this is in the form of a smart phone that has a camera. In an effort to understand and deal with this phenomenon, the term mobile photography has been coined. But is it time to drop the mobile part? I think so.
There is irony in that on my part, seeing as I separate my traditional photography and mobile photography with two separate Flickr accounts. But hey! Contradictions and hypocrisy is what makes us humans interesting.
I completed my end-of-year review for my DSLR images last week and now I am beginning to look back at 2013 and choose my favourite images taken with my iPhone. You know, I will enjoy this more. The iPhone is more fun. Shooting with the DSLR, I feel more of a responsibility to adhere to and to achieve photographic standards; to manipulate the settings of the camera to good effect. But with the iPhone it is liberating. I point, I shoot, do a little post processing and very often upload immediately. Just fun! And what is the point of a hobby if it is not fun. I am not saying the DSLR is not fun, but I prefer the iPhone. It is lighter, more compact, less intrusive and it is a damn fine camera.
Looking back at the year of iPhone images, I am really pleased. There are a lot of good memories in those photos. The one I am choosing for January was taken on second day of the year in 2013. It was a cold, grey wintery day, but still all the family got together and headed to Inchadonny beach, which is about 50km from Cork. Kids love the beach. Last year we were lucky to have a good summer and many happy days were spent at the seaside. The image below shows my beautiful little girl, Sumi-Anna, playing on the sand, drawing figures. The sky expands above her and the Atlantic appears calm in the distance. The start of a new year with possibilities as vast as the sky, with love as forever as the ocean. Kissing that future…
